Propitiation

Pastor Martin answers the question, by what specific activities does our great priest fulfill His task? He shows from the Old Testament Day of Atonement ritual in Leviticus 16 and its fulfillment in Hebrews that Christ's priestly work consists of two inseparable elements: oblation (the shedding of His blood) and intercession (the presentation of that blood in heaven). He argues that these must never be separated — like inhaling and exhaling, they form one complex priestly activity securing the salvation of God's people.

Pastor Martin begins a focused study on Christ's priestly sacrifice, establishing first the fact of His priestly sacrifice from Ephesians 5:2, Hebrews 9:24-28, and Hebrews 10:10-12. He defends the Bible's unequivocal presentation of Christ's death as a true, bona fide priestly offering to God rather than a mere example of self-giving. He then begins to unfold the context of sacrificial activity — the reality of God as holy, just, and gracious, and of man as accountable, guilty, and polluted.

Pastor Martin begins filling in the completed sentence: Christ offered Himself to make an objective, vicarious, penal satisfaction for the sins of His people. He unpacks the first two words. 'Objective' means Christ was dealing with the real God and real sin, not phantom notions. 'Vicarious' means in the room and place of another, established by Old Testament typology, by explicit bearing-language (Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13), and by the prepositions huper and anti in the New Testament.

Pastor Martin presses deeper into the sacrifice of Christ by considering it under the category of propitiation. He establishes the necessity of the category from Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10, and Romans 3:25, then defines propitiation from Old Testament origin and classical Greek usage, illustrated from Jacob's appeasing Esau in Genesis 32 and Proverbs 16:14. He explains that propitiation presupposes the wrath of God — His aversion to sin, displeasure at the sinner, and will to avenge — and shows how Christ averted that wrath in His blood.

Pastor Martin addresses the first major error concerning propitiation — paganizing it. He distinguishes the heresy of the enemies of the gospel (who caricature propitiation as capricious appeasement of an angry deity and thus deny God's wrath altogether, holding God is nothing but love) from the error of the friends of the gospel (who pit a loving Christ against an angry Father, missing the Trinitarian unity and failing to see the Father's love as the very source of propitiation). He grounds his answers in Romans 3:21-26, 1 John 1:5, and 1 John 4:9-10.

Pastor Martin treats the second great error concerning propitiation: neutralizing the need for it. He exposes the heresy of the enemies of the gospel who deny divine wrath as an attribute of God (refuted by explicit Scripture statements, historical manifestations, and Calvary itself), and the serious error of the friends of the gospel who present the gospel without starting from divine wrath. He criticizes modern 'God loves you, smile' evangelism and the 'Four Spiritual Laws' approach for violating the pattern of Romans 1-3 where Paul begins his gospel exposition with the wrath of God.

Pastor Martin expounds 1 John 2:1-2 to unfold Christ's heavenly ministry as the Advocate of His people. He shows that the believer's relationship to God is always both personal and legal, that Christ is advocate in God's courtroom pleading our case as the Righteous One who is Himself the propitiation. With illustrations from Amintas of Greece, he shows that the Advocate does not deny His client's guilt but pleads His own wounds, securing the just forgiveness of God. He closes urging believers never to live as if they had no advocate, and warns the unconverted what it means to face judgment without one.

Pastor Martin distinguishes the legal and experiential dimensions of adoption with a vivid illustration of adoptive parents waiting to receive their child, then expounds three legal privileges of adoption: an inviolable sonship grounded in the work of Christ for us (John 1:11-13), a shared heirship as co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17), and a conferred brotherhood in which the risen Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren (Hebrews 2:10-17). He urges believers to meditate on these privileges until they become felt realities and warns the unconverted of their alien, wrath-bearing position.